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Topic: Duotone Wing Thread (Read 1425 times)

This should serve as the official Duotone Foil Wing Thread. Please post any product-specific questions here and someone from our Duotone Team will answer them as quickly as possible. Cheers and see you on the water with Wing in hand:)

Today we got several hundred in stock in different sizes but a shortage of booms. We will be shipping them to the dealers who have the most on order and pre-sold. We will also be sending canopy only to those dealers who want them that way for the people who want to quiver up .

Great. I hope that's enough so I can get one, I prepaid Big Winds for a 5M a few months ago. I don't need a boom, just a canopy. I've already made a carbon boom for the 5M. I decided to ditch adjustability in favor of weight. I added an outhaul system that adjusts from 165cm to 170cm. Total weight of the 5M boom is a little over 400 grams. The aluminum boom is 902. Not really all that heavy, and very strong, but the carbon boom is nice.

Here's the funny part about making a carbon boom for the 5M--it takes about ten minutes. A standard Ke Nalu paddle shaft has exactly the right taper (with a tiny bit of shimming) and exactly the right length. I drilled the rivets out of the stock boom, wrapped a little aluminum tape on the shaft for the front of the boom and on the ferrule of the boom end to get a snug fit, and then hot glued them in place, Done. 438 grams.

I did the sailworks outhaul on my 3/4 boom, but I didn't like how the clew wobbles around. So this time I just did a loop around the boom with a second loop for the sail to connect to. Then the line goes through the eye on the boom end, around the bracket and back out. I just pull the wing to the tightness I want. The loop on the boom snugs up to keep the clew tight to the boom. Then a couple of half hitches and it's all secure. I can't change it while I'm flying sail as I supposedly could with the sailworks setup, but I couldn't really do that anyway. No added weight.

I've ordered stuff from Rockwest--nice stuff, reasonable price. The big advantage of the Ke Nalu shaft is that it's tapered and happens to be almost the right size on both ends, and the shaft I had kicking around was the right length to yield 170CM. I think the stock length is 63", with the added length of the boom end and front it came to exactly 67". At $187 retail for the 3K Elite, it's a little expensive, but it's super easy to make a light, fixed boom with.

Glad you like it Bill. I think I saw you out that evening getting a few nice rides in it by the mouth of the white salmon. I have been loving my 5m and you can really feel the low-end Grunt on the 5m compared to the other sizes.